“Gordon Murray lives in a parallel universe” – McLaren designers strike back over MP4 / 4 claims

“Gordon had the BT55, which was a terrible car in every way. He’s got this stain on his notebook. Now I think he feels the need to approve the MP4 / 4 in order to remove the BT55 from his file. You can see what he’s trying to do there. “

Jeffreys says he has had similar experiences, including one such incident with the McLaren MP4 / 4 Owners’ Workshop Manual written by Steve Rendle.

The book is a comprehensive look at the Grand Prix car and interviews all 17 members of the design team, as well as high-ranking figures like Dennis and Murray, who affirmed Jeffreys and Nichols’ views for at least a period of time.

“Steve and I gave a talk on MP4 / 4 at Brooklands,” Jefferys recalls. “We realized that Gordon had shown up and was in the back of the room. He didn’t say a word during the entire conversation.

“In the end, he came and handed us two letters threatening us with the stuff he said in your interview to stop us telling all those lies that we said in the Haynes book, What We Said found surprising, because the letters could have been written by him and given to us! “

“Part of our problem is that when the legendary and powerful Gordon Murray says something, people listen, we less because we are not ‘legendary’ in public.

Murray often cites the troubled Brabham BT55, which scored two points and earned 19 resignations – as the original inspiration for the MP4 / 4, but both Nichols and Jeffreys disprove this and explain why each association is superficial as well as the illegality of another Copy car.

Both the BT55 and MP4 / 4 had deep-set profiles – but Nichols and Co. say that is where the similarities end

Grand Prix photo

“Neither of us looked at BT55 drawings and we wouldn’t have wanted to – it was a disaster,” says Jeffreys. Why would we want a McLaren to copy a car that you had huge problems with and that was also two years old?

“If you also look at the MP4 / 3 [also designed by Nichols] and MP4 / 4 you can is a further development of the other – the backend is practically identical. “

“He says, ‘Compare the two cars together and you will see that they are almost identical,” adds Nichols. “If you look at these two cars, they are not alike.

“It was the ultimate expression of teamwork” Nichols

“The only similarity is that they were both low. But if you look at something else – the rules were different [and therefore] the tank size was different, the drive train was different, different engine, different transmission – everything. “

Despite the tussle, Nichols still raves about this period in McLaren history. “It was just so rewarding,” he says. “The idea of ​​teamwork worked so well. Everyone was so good at all levels, not just the drawing office and the engineers.

“The production, the guys who do the lamination, the guys who do the production, the marketing. It was such a blessing to be a part of it. You went in on a Saturday and everyone was in, donating their time – and they didn’t want anywhere better. It was the ultimate expression of teamwork. “

Gordon Murray did not take the opportunity to add to his earlier remarks.